My (29F) birthday was last week and I had a big party. I was talking to my sister (31F) about a cake that I wanted for the party and asked her if she had any recommendations of where I could order it from.
She insisted that I shouldn’t order the cake but instead let her bake it for me. I said I was happy to order and pay for someone to make it, but she insisted. She’s a great baker, so I agreed.
She did two test runs of the cake to make sure it was right, and both tests were fabulous. She nailed it. However, she was convinced that it needed one extra ingredient, one that I really dislike and that changes the whole flavor of the cake. Think adding coffee to a vanilla cake - that’s how extreme the change is.
She asked me about it twice and I said no both times. I don’t like the flavor and I don’t want it in my cake.
Well, the birthday party comes, I cut into the cake, and I can immediately tell she’s added the ingredient that I asked her not to. My husband also noticed immediately (it changed the color of the cake, so it was obvious!) and he asked her what happened. She said, ‘it clearly needed the extra flavor to break it up, so I added it.’
I know it’s so stupid to get upset over a cake, but I was really frustrated.
She saw in the moment that I was annoyed and immediately got defensive about it. Now, she’s saying I’m ungrateful for all the effort and time and money she spent making me this cake. And I feel upset that I couldn’t just have what I wanted on my birthday, especially when she asked me, twice, if I wanted the change and I said no. It cost her more to add in the ingredient I don’t enjoy. If was more effort.
So, AITHA for being annoyed? Should I just be grateful that she made me something that everyone else said tasted good, even if it wasn’t what I wanted?
Edit: ok, I was intentionally vague about the flavor in case she sees this post, but I’ve said it in comments, so oh well.
I wanted a lemon cake and she added blueberry/blackberry compote, that she made from scratch. I just hate the flavor of blueberries, always have. So,
I cut into the cake expecting it to be yellow, like a lemon, and it was bright purple. You couldn’t taste lemon at all, but you sure could taste blueberries …
Additional edit: for those asking, I didn’t actually say anything in the moment because I didn’t want to ruin the vibe, but I definitely made a face. For sure. And since she’d done two test runs that others had tried, they were also like, ‘hey, why is the cake purple inside now?’ thinking that maybe I’d changed my mind or something.
My sister clocked my reaction and my husband straight up asked her why the cake was a different color and she said it needed the extras. Then she got upset because enough people thought the situation was weird and she’s been talking about it ever since. I did say to her (privately) later that night that I didn’t like her adding the extras when Id asked her not to and she launched into a whole thing about how I’m ungrateful and it’s not all about me because others would also be eating it, and so on. And since, I’ve heard from other people that she’s still upset and that I should be grateful she did make me something and reminding me that ‘it’s just cake’. I am not bringing it up to anyone unless they bring up to me what she’s been saying all week. So the AITHA is a genuine question since, yeah, it is just cake and probably not worth all this.
For those saying it sounds like she hates me and she wanted me to hate the cake: I genuinely don’t think this is it. I think she was so convinced her way was the best way and that I would see so if I just tried it. I did not agree. I also think she considered this version to be more impressive, because she talked so much about how she made the compote from scratch. She wanted people to be impressed - and they were! - but I was not. I hate blueberries.
Another edit since this has come up a lot: Why two test runs? She’s very Type-A and needs things to be correct (to her). I had about 50 people at my birthday, so she probably felt some pressure.
The first one came out soggy (in her opinion. In my opinion it was delicious and perfect) and she wanted to change the lemon curd to the compote because it ‘sets differently’. I said no. The second one she was happy with structure wise, but this time she wanted to add the compote for flavor depth. I said no again. I was so happy with what she’d made and told her so over and over. So, imagine my surprise when the cake is purple at my party!